The role of three important psychosocial factors on adherence to lung cancer screening recommendations in high-risk populations

Psychosocial factors have a significant impact on the promotion of preventive health behaviors in populations. This study aimed to examine the relationship between lung cancer screening (LCS) and three specific psychosocial factors: life satisfaction, necessary emotional support, and perceived social isolation, among a nationally representative sample. We utilized data from the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey, which included 32,640 individuals aged 50 to 79 years who were at high risk for lung cancer. Descriptive statistics and Wald’s design-based chi-squared tests analyzed demographic and socioeconomic characteristics’ relationship with LCS. The two multivariate logistic regression models to estimate the influence of three psychosocial factors on LCS. All models were calculated utilizing the complex survey weights from the BRFSS, with statistical analyses performed using R version 4.3.3. We found that 3243 (9.9%) of the 32,640 LCS-eligible participants went to the hospital for an LCS in the past 12 months. After controlling control variables, participants who were satisfied with their lives had a 19% higher probability of LCS use than participants who were very satisfied with their lives. In addition, Participants who never experienced social isolation were 30.1% less likely to use the LCS than those who always experienced social isolation. Our study demonstrated that greater attention should be given to high-risk lung cancer individuals who are very satisfied with their lives or have not experienced social isolation. Future strategies should integrate these psychosocial elements to develop targeted interventions aimed at increasing LCS adherence.